Russell Westbrook has had one of the worst years of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers.
But that doesn’t mean he or his family should be harassed or threatened by fans.
Westbrook’s wife Nina tweeted Monday about “being harassed on a daily basis over basketball games,” along with “death wishes” she’s received. Just awful.
And after the Lakers lost on Monday to the San Antonio Spurs, the star point guard elaborated, supporting Nina but also diving into the derisive nickname he’s heard a lot about this season: “Westbrick.”
Westbrook spoke about his young son being so proud of his last name and how that hit him when it came to twisting it into a taunt:
Russ speaks on the criticism surrounding him, does not want to be name-shamed and called Westbrick pic.twitter.com/viTsKv5KNE
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) March 8, 2022
“I’ve kind of let it go in the past, because it never really bothered me. But, it really kind of hit me the other day. Me and my wife were at teacher-parent conferences for my son. And the teacher told me, ‘Noah, he’s so proud of his last name. He writes it everywhere, he writes it on everything. He tells everybody and walks around and says, ‘I’m Westbrook, that’s the last name.’
And I kind of sat there in shock, and it hit me, like, ‘Damn. I can no longer allow people [to say] ‘Westbrick.’ To me, it’s now shaming my name, it’s my legacy for my kids.”
Hopefully, that will make fans think twice about using it.
